SHAFAQNA –A French-Moroccan has died of his wounds after being shot by Shiite militiamen in control of the Yemeni capital, a Western diplomat said on Thursday.

The shooting on Wednesday also killed his French-Algerian companion, identified as Farid Hamou.

Both men, who were studying religion at a Salafist center in Sanaa, were stopped at a checkpoint on suspicion of carrying explosives.

In an ensuing argument, the French-Algerian stabbed a Shiite militiaman before being shot dead, a security source said.

“The French-Moroccan died yesterday (Wednesday) evening at the hospital,” the diplomat told AFP.

The dead man was not identified.

Both victims were aged “between 25 and 30” and had been in Yemen for less than a year, he said.

Yemen has been gripped by security problems since the 2012 ouster of strongman Ali Abdullah Saleh, and recent weeks have seen a spate of armed attacks in Sanaa after the Huthi Shiite militiamen seized the city in September.

On Wednesday, three students thought to have been related to the rebels were killed by two gunmen in northwestern Sanaa, a security official said.

An attempt by the Huthis to expand the areas they control beyond Sanaa and towards the south was met by deadly resistance from mainly Sunni tribes in central Yemen and by Al-Qaida insurgents.